Galesburg City Council Monday night tabled a package of ordinances that would change several rules and details governing how council meetings are run.
The changes will be discussed at a May 22 work session and then possibly voted on June 5.
Proposed changes as presented at the meeting include speakers must sign in and state a city-related topic they wish to speak about.
Also speakers “shall refrain from engaging in debates, directing threats or personal attacks to the presiding officer, council, city staff, other speakers or members of the audience”
‘More civil public input’ or ‘restricting freedom of speech’? Galesburg Council considers changes to public comment
The time for speaking would be cut shorter; 2 minutes would be allowed for both each public comment and the council members’ closing comments.
Also, public comments would be moved to the beginning of the meeting.
The meeting’s start time would also go from 5:30 to 6 p.m.
Ward 5 Council member Heather Acerra says the proposed changes are part of a list of items that she and Ward 1 Alderman Bradley Hix presented to City Manager Gerald Smith during a meeting last Tuesday at City Hall.
But Acerra from the start of discussions on Monday was open to negotiations.
“I still sincerely would like to bundle all these revisions into some kind of work session to discuss it and possibly present it forward as a collective that we can agree on as a Council,” Acerra says.
Council unanimously agreed to table the three different agenda items related to meeting rules.
Ward 7 Councilmember Steve Cheesman says he thinks, the council takes the public’s opinions to heart in terms of the decisions they make.
“I think that this began tonight as sort of an idea and wasn’t necessarily supposed to be put in an ordinance,” Cheesman says. “Come up with what’s best here. So we hear you but we also meet the needs of being able to carry on business.”
There was plenty of public comment Monday night, some that were critical of meeting changes and some that said limiting speakers’ time was a violation of the First Amendment.
Mayor Peter Schwartzman was agreeable to tabling forward to a work session but in his closing comments said that he would “defend the First Amendment” even if it took him to jail.